Photo: Tony Dejak/AP/Shutterstock
As the death toll from vaping reaches 39 and thenumber of illnesses exceeds 2,000, the White House is taking steps to combate-cigarette use among young people.
On Friday,President Donald Trumpsaid he will move to increase the legal vaping age as early as next week, while also backpedaling on aprevious announcement to considerbanning flavored e-cigarettes.
“We’re going to be coming out with a very important position on vaping,” Trump said. “We have to take care of our kids, most importantly, so we’re going to have an age limit of 21 or so.”
In September, the president said his administration was considering a ban on flavored vaping products to curb the appeal to minors. Vaping manufacturers and users pushed back, and Trump hedged his statement on Friday.
“We have a lot of people to look at, including jobs, quite frankly,” he said. “Because, you know, it’s become a pretty big industry.”
Juul products.Justin Sullivan/Getty
News of the planned legislation comes after leading e-cigarette distributorJuul Labsannounced it will no longer sell their mint-flavored products, which are particularly popular among teens. The company said it would immediately stop selling them online and cease filling orders to distributors.
Defenders of vaping flavors claim the options help adult smokers switch from traditional cigarettes because they taste better.
RELATED VIDEO: How Vaping Sent This Teenager to Rehab: ‘I Did Not Understand the Severity of It’
Last year, Juul reduced marketing on their social media channels after the FDA ordered them to curb teen e-cigarette use.
Juul products.EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty
On Friday the Centers for Disease Control also shared a new development in theinvestigationof deaths and illnesses related to vaping.
The CDC’s findings linked vitamin E acetate — an additive oil used in the making of e-cigarettes — to samples from a number of sick people, pointing to a possible culprit of vape-related lung damage anddeaths.
“This is the first time that we have detected a potential chemical of concern in biologic samples from patients with these lung injuries,” the CDC said ina statement. “CDC continues to recommend that people should not use e-cigarette, or vaping, products that contain THC, particularly from informal sources like friends, or family, or in-person or online dealers.”
Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC, called it a “breakthrough” in their investigation.
source: people.com
